Volume 29, Issue 5, 2020
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.1194
The impact of 5G online social media interaction on consumer purchase intentions ：A social impact theory perspective
Abstract
The advent of the 5G era in 2020 has affected consumers' shopping habits. This study mainly surveys of social networking platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Wechat, and other related Live online platforms. The main purpose is to investigate the impact of consumers of social networking platforms communicating with each other through messages and instant interactions. Specifically, it is determined whether, once the exchange of information is judged to be correct, consumers will make decisions to purchase on the Internet.
This study collects data through a questionnaire. Through the structural equation model, whether consumers will influence other consumers' purchasing intentions through online community interaction is investigated. The effective sample of our research is 297 participants. The main respondents are consumers of online community websites in Taiwan in 2020.
The results of this study demonstrate that consumers are highly interested in, and affected by, other consumers’ purchasing intentions. Consumers use the information on social networking websites to determine whether or not the information is factual, and then decide whether to purchase a product. In this interactive process of the platforms, consumers can discern the value of the product through online text interactions and online real-time interactions with other consumers.
In this study, only a survey was used, and other methodologies may provide increased robustness and generalizability. The study also investigates only the setting of China, and studies of other varied settings are requisite. Online merchants are advised to provide ample opportunities for consumers to read other consumers’ comments and feedback, and actively engage with them via social networking services (SNS) concerning specific products.
This is the first study to perspective consumer intention in online community. Many e-commerce merchants in China interact with consumers through webcasting. We believe that this is an innovative way to study consumer buying behavior.
Keywords
purchase intention,online text interaction, online real-time interaction, e-WOM